Exceeding Expectations
by epicfrenchfry
Summary: As a precaution against Ministry involvement, Albus Dumbledore has written to England, asking for him and a group of his fellow nations to attend Hogwarts under the pretense of them being involved in a student exchange program. Only problem is, Harry and gang are getting suspicious. Pairings inside. Rated for slight language and mild violence.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_Dear Arthur,_

_I'm afraid the Ministry has refused to acknowledge Lord Voldemort's return and they have sent one of their employees to interfere at the school and possibly inspect our teachers. Due to this troubling matter, I fear that my time as headmaster may be drawing to an end. _

_I write to request that you and your fellow nations come to Hogwarts to inconspicuously watch over young Harry as he progresses through his fifth year. Please send your reply back with Fawkes._

_Sincerely, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Arthur Kirkland, more commonly known as the personification of England and the representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reread the letter with a sigh. He had sent back an immediate yes to Albus, but he wasn't exactly excited. When he brought up the matter at the World Meeting the previous week, a surprisingly large amount of countries wanted to go. Sadly, America and France were a part of them. The Axis had agreed, as well as the rest of the Allies and a large group of others.

Today was the 31st of August. They would leave tomorrow. England sighed, rubbing his forehead. He hoped Albus knew what he was getting into.

~time skip~

England brushed his fingers soothingly along the head of his barred owl, Struma, through the bars of her cage. Despite the rules, he brought both Struma and his cat with him, though it hardly mattered since America was bringing his cat Hero and his bald eagle Liberty, and Prussia was bringing Gilbird along with his cat. He was also fairly certain that Poland was bringing his horse. What they didn't understand about cat, owl, or toad he'd never know.

"Hey, Iggy!" cried an obnoxiously loud voice.

"Ame- Alfred, I keep telling you not to call me that!" England sighed.

"Whatever, Artie, look at Liberty!" America grinned, shoving the eagle into the Brit's face. The bird narrowed her beady eyes and shrieked angrily at the British nation, who tried to back up and ended up with a gash in his hand.

"Ow!" He yelled, nursing the wound. "That thing's evil! Why isn't it in a cage?"

"Why isn't Ringo?" America countered. England glanced down at the orange and white Scottish Fold standing calmly by his feet. "Why is it named that, anyway?"

"For one thing, he's actually pretty well behaved, and for the second question, he's named after Ringo Starr from the Beatles. I told you that last time you asked, and the time before that, and the time before that..."

"Okay, okay! Well, come on Artie! Franc- is..." America caught himself and less-than-smoothly covered up his mistake."Francis is waiting with the others on the train." With that, America seized England's hand and pulled him eagerly past the curious starers and onto the train.

When they reached the chosen compartment for the Allied Forces, France laughed pervertedly and pulled them inside. "Ohonhonhonhon~ Amerique and Angleterre were together? Doing what, I might ask?"

"Oh, good god, shut up! That's disgusting!" America cried, shoving away the elder nation. Truthfully, his insides were squirming. (A/N: Yeah! Hardcore UsUk shipper! FrUk shippers, don't despair, there will be some~)

"As if." England snorted. The door banged open. An irritable boy with raven hair and glasses was arguing with a snobby-looking boy with blonde hair. The blonde-haired boy was the one who'd pushed open the door.

"Who're you?" he said rather rudely when he looked up and saw the crowded compartment. England smiled like a true gentleman and stood up to introduce himself.

"I'm Arthur Kirkland, and this is Alfred F. Jones, Francis Bonnefoy, Yao Wang, and Ivan Braginsky. Who are you?" England pointed to each himself, America, France, China, and Russia as he said their human name, and then turned politely back to the boys.

"Draco Malfoy. Are you new? I've never seen you before."

"Yeah, we're transferring for a new program that the headmaster is starting. I'm from England, Alfred is from America, Francis is French, Yao is Chinese, and Ivan is Russian. The rest of us are somewhere scattered over the train; one compartment would have been much too small for our group." England gave a little unamused laugh at the end of his speech.

Draco gazed at him with a deadpan expression, then turned abruptly and walked away, purposely bumping into the other boy and sneering at him.

"Sorry about him. He's always been like that. I'm Harry, by the way. Harry Potter." Harry stretched out his hand, but England merely stared at him. Struma's cage slipped from under his arm and crashed onto the floor. The owl screeched furiously as her cage broke open and she took flight, spreading her wings and fleeing the compartment. Ringo gave a startled yowl and clawed his way up France's leg and clung desperately to his face.

"Oi! Angleterre, kindly remove your cat from my face!" He yelled. In the chaos, Harry had realized the commotion his name had caused and slipped away. England pried Ringo off of the Frenchman and and scolded him. He pulled out his wand (Willow, 12 inches, unicorn hair core, with a little good-luck charm star on the tip) and repaired Struma's cage. The owl, apparently sensing the resuming calmness in the Allies' compartment, flew back and rested stiffly next to Liberty. The cats- Ringo, Hero, L'Amour, China-Cat, and Russia-Cat -stared at the birds with hungry expressions.

"Let the HERO handle this!" America grinned. He picked up Struma, put her in the luggage rack where she could safely survey her surroundings, and put Liberty in his lap. The eagle, which had so viciously sliced open England's hand just 5 minutes ago, settled comfortably in the American's lap with a contented air about her. England scowled at the injustice of it all and turned away with Ringo in his own lap.

~time skip~

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" An elderly woman asked with a bright smile. England smiled back and bought a few Cauldron Cakes. America, however, bought a complete shitload of candy. He bought a stack of Cauldron Cakes, several Licorice Wands, two packages of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, a pouch of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, and a handful of Fudge Flies. The rest of it was whisked away before England could gape at it.

Luckily for the American's health, he decided to share. England, being the gentlemanly former pirate that he was, also pooled his snacks. It was only a few minutes later that the Beilschmidt brothers staggered through the door, completely hammered. Gilbird flew gloomily after silver-haired Prussia; Italy followed Germany with the closest thing to a scowl that he'd ever had.

"Doitsu's drunk again~" he whined. England grinned and got up, happily accepting the bottle of beer Germany held out for him.

"Nooooooooooooooo!" The others wailed. England downed a gulp of beer and refilled the bottle with a flick of his wand. The three continued drinking until the door swung open again and Denmark entered.

"Drinking party? Count me in!" He smirked. The four of them laughed and told long, ridiculous stories as they continued refilling the bottle magically and drinking its contents. The train was almost at Hogwarts by the time America, being the 'hero' as always, stepped in and forced England's Hogwarts robes over his head.

"Iggy, you need to stop drinking. We're almost there." America said sternly. The island nation blinked blearily at his former colony, then nodded vacantly. France sighed in relief and shooed away the others, his nose wrinkled in distaste. "How are we going to get them sober again before we get there?" He whispered over his shoulder. China and France shrugged.

"I can smash them up with my pickax, da?" Russia smiled, holding up said object.

"Violence is not the answer to everything, aru!" China snapped.

"Violence originated in Korea, da-ze!" A sing-song voice trilled from no where.

"Go away, Korea!" China yelled. South Korea skipped cheerfully away, his robes billowing out behind him.

"You'll miss me soon, Aniki~" He sang. France cocked an elegant eyebrow at the elder nation.

"I know what you're thinking, France, and so help me I will kill you to death with a fork if you say it!" China snapped. France blushed and looked away.

Meanwhile, England was drunkenly trying to adjust his robes. Blushing profusely, America was assisting him.

"FML," America cursed. England was still as drunk as ever, rambling on about what religion he was and how he was, quote-on-quote, 'the United-bloody-Kingdom and they were all just jealous of his power'. He also was wailing about how 'everyone he had ever bothered to get close to had abandoned him'. It was actually quite demoting to listen to; the others had long since quit trying to cheer him up (he really was a depressing drunk!) and fled, claiming that they needed to 'use the bathroom'. They had been gone for half an hour.

"What'dya think, 'Murica? Catholic... *hic* ...or Protestant?" England muttered, fiddling absently with the fasten on his cloak.

"You're an awful drunk, Arthur." America sighed. England sighed deeply and stared out the window.

"Hey, look, a castle~" he giggled. 'Shit...' America thought. 'We're here...'

Hogwarts, America had to admit, was beautiful. The castle stood proudly on the side of a cliff, with a huge lake on its grounds and an enormous evil-looking forest covering much of the land at the bottom of the cliff. A sense of foreboding stabbed through America as he stared at the tall black trees, but at the same time he felt a thrill of excitement. How much he wanted to explore that forbidding place!

Then he saw it: a skeletal black form, rather like a cross between a dragon and a horse, rising from the trees. It flapped large leathery wings and reared its head at the dark sky. Hooves struck out at the air as the train raced by, and by the time America had strained his neck for a second glimpse, it had gone.

It would be a complete lie to say that he wasn't shaken by this encounter. It seemed like something England would freak out over, but his judgement wasn't completely reliable in his current state. The former pirate slumped over the edge of the cushioned bench with a vacant smile, laughing at nothing.

"Hehehehe..." England snickered. "Alfie!" He latched onto America from around the waist. America blushed dark red and looked up at the ceiling, out the window, anywhere but his former mentor. "I love you~" America was completely red. In fact, it felt to him as though every drop of blood had rushed to his face, leaving the rest of his body tingling and numb.

"Ahahahahaha~" America laughed. "That's nice, Iggy. C'mon, we need to go." The Brit stumbled over the hem of his robes and followed America with a slight scowl on his face.

In the aisle they saw France, chatting up some girl. "Come on, Francey-Pants. Stop womanizing the entire female population of the world." America said, seizing the back of France's robes and dragging him away.

"Adieu! Owl me!" France yelled after her. The girl giggled and blushed before running off to find her friends.

"How old was she?" America demanded.

"11 or 12, not that it matters. Age has no significance in l'amour," France purred.

"11 or 12?! Francis, you're fifteen!" America yelled.

"Fusososo~ A player, just like always!" Spain snickered, appearing out of nowhere behind them. A sour-tempered Italian followed.

"Tomato bastard! You can't-a just-a leave me, what if I had-a gotten lost, eh?" Romano snapped.

"Ah, Lovi, you know that wouldn't have happened! At the worst, you would have run into Ludwig! He's been running around looking for Feliciano." Spain grinned.

"My stupid, idiot-a fratello! Always-a messing things up!" Romano sighed. "Well, I suppose I should go and-a help the potato bastard find my fratello. Bye." The bad-tempered Italian stomped off.

"That'll be easy, since Feli was following him the whole time." Spain said quietly. England, who was now leaning on America for support, hiccuped a laugh and swayed slightly. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes somewhat misty, but otherwise the fact that he was a drunken mess wasn't too obvious.

"Anyway, what should we do about the four of them? I'd look through my stuff to see if there was something, but we had to leave everything on the train. By the way, I put the birds in the cages and the cats in their baskets, so you don't have to worry about that."

China, France, and Russia all gave their thanks to America and the five of them began following the other students to a worn-out path where carriages waited. These carriages were pulled by the same ghastly animals that America had seen earlier. Large, black, and dragon-ish, the horse were walking skeletons with huge leathery wings too big for their bodies. Their eyes were purely white and stared blankly at the five nations.

England stepped forward and stroked one of the two horse/dragon things. "Thestrals," he murmured. "They're really very gentle, and the ones here are quite tame. They're very smart, too." Russia moved forward and patted the thestral on its bony neck. It nuzzled into his scarf, snuffling quietly. England flicked his wand and a huge chunk of bloody meat appeared in front of the thestrals. The two attacked it with great gusto, and it was gone within a minute. England gave them a final pat and clambered into the carriage, the others following.

A moments silence as the thestrals started pulling them to the castle, then America spoke up. "They eat meat?"

"Well, yeah. Did you think that they would be vegetarians just because they have horse in them?" England scoffed. He seemed to be sobering up a bit, or at least regaining conscious thought. They pulled up next to the Nordics, who were all evacuating their carriage and giving the thestrals a farewell pet. Norway looked especially pissed off, holding up Denmark, who was still rather drunk.

But, as the Allies traveled further away from the thestrals, England fell apart again. He started giggling mindlessly and leaned against America's shoulder. Predictably, America wasn't too pleased. He scowled and pushed the Brit upright again and ignored France's perverted laughter.

"Ohonhonhonhon~ Is Amerique unhappy with Angleterre's behavior?"

"Shut up, France." America said stiffly, reverting back to France's country name.

"Oh, mon ami, don't be so cold!" France smirked, drooping an arm over America's shoulder.

"Get off me!" He muttered. "C'mon, we have to go."

* * *

Okay, so just to clear things up, I'll post the pairings along with a guide to who's going and what House they're in after the next chapter, which is the Sorting. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

They stumbled into the Great Hall along with the first years. The majority of the students' eyes were on the group of nations. Maybe it was the obvious fact that they were all from different countries, or maybe it was the fact that they all chatted with each other as if they'd known each other their whole lives. Or, maybe it was the drunken four, who were giggling absently and staggering around. Prussia tripped over Hungary's foot and fell into her, pushing both of them to the ground. Gilbird, who'd taken shelter in Prussia's hair, took flight.

Due to the laws of physics and gravity, Prussia landed on top of Hungary. She was bright red and looked ready to explode, but Prussia was laughing his ass off. "Kesesesese~ The awesome me has won again!"

"Get off me, Gilbert!" She screeched.

"No! You're comfortable." Prussia sat up and arranged himself on Hungary's stomach. "Elizaveta," he whispered huskily, leaning forward and kissing her lightly on the lips. Her eyes widened and she promptly grabbed her frying pan from inside her robes. Prussia screamed and dived behind Germany, who was hit instead.

"OW!" He yelled. Prussia, England, and Denmark were all snickering shamelessly.

"Sorry about these four." Hungary said pleasantly to the students. "They, uhhh..." She looked around helplessly at Austria.

"They're a bit delirious. From the long trip." He covered smoothly.

"Ve~ But-a why? They didn't travel any farther than the rest of us!" Italy said in confusion. "I thought they were dru- _MMPH!"_ Japan slapped his hand over the Italian's mouth.

"Wait! I have an idea!" Hungary grinned. She whipped out her frying pan again and smacked Prussia over the head with the force of a small truck. He passed out cold, and she then proceeded to assault Germany, England, and Denmark. When the four lay unconscious on top of each other, she turned to the front of the Great Hall, where the staff table was. "I'm going to assume that you're the professors, so can one of you please wake them up?" The headmaster, a tall thin man with long silver hair and beard and an idle smile, stood up.

"_Ennervate!"_ A red glow emitted from the tip of his wand and the four nations stirred. Prussia sat up, blinking his burgundy eyes. He shifted a bit in confusion, then looked down, giving such an exclamation of disgust that it made the younger students squeal and clap their hands over their ears and gave the professors looks of horror. The positions they had fallen into was quite... uncomfortable for the proud former kingdom.

"What is wrong with you? Stupid yaoi fan!" He yelled at Hungary, flinching back slightly when she raised the pan threateningly. "Hey, wait a minute... West! Your face isn't foggy anymore!" He said happily, looking at his younger brother, who was sitting up.

"Ja, ja, that's good, bruder." Germany said flippantly, a dark blush still powdered across his cheeks. England and Denmark both sat up, the former blinking confusedly.

"Everything's so clear!" Prussia shared a devious look with France and Spain.

"I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW THE RAIN IS GONE!" They sang loudly and obnoxiously. (A/N: Sorry. I had to) Over the Gryffindor table, Fred and George exchanged grins. They liked those three!

The headmaster smiled. "Now that we have had our, er, entertainment, let us begin the Sorting!"

The Sorting Hat was a dirty and patched old wizard's hat. It sang a long, boring song and sorted all the new first years. The four Houses were Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff. After the first years were Sorted, Dumbledore, the headmaster, introduced the nations as representatives from different countries who were a part of a World Exchange program.

Turkey was called first. "Adnan, Sadık!" He sat on the stool for a moment, then the hat screamed for him to be placed in Slytherin. As he sat at the table clad in green and silver, people were gazing questioningly at his mask.

"Arlovskaya, Natalia!" Belarus was called. She sat delicately on the stool with a creepy smile directed at her brother, who shuddered, and was promptly sorted into Slytherin.

"Balakov, Aleksander!" Bulgaria slowly got up and sat on the stool.

"SLYTHERIN!" As he walked to the table, he said in his calm voice "You better be in Slytherin, Vladimir." Romania smirked.

Then Prussia was called. "Beilschmidt, Gilbert!"

"The awesome older brother!" He yelled in an attempt to ease the tension between the nations. He strutted up to the stool and sat arrogantly.

"Oh great, a Malfoy duplicate." A ginger-haired boy muttered loudly at the Gryffindor table.

'Don't worry. I know you're secret, but I won't tell. Now, where was I? Hmm, you'd do well in Gryffindor, and you are extremely loyal to those you are close to, so Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad... Ravenclaw, Merlin no!'

"HEY!" Prussia roared indignantly, glaring up at the Hat.

'Oh, no, don't be angry, I merely meant that you get frustrated far too easily. Your ambition levels are high as well, as are your cunning and skill. In that case, better be... "SLYTHERIN!"

"Damn. He's a snake." Fred scowled. George sighed. Hermione glared reproachfully at them as the Slytherins enthusiastically greeted their new arrival. So far they'd gotten all of the newbies.

"Beilschmidt, Ludwig!"

"The not-as-awesome younger brother!" Prussia announced. France and Spain snickered. The Hat was plopped onto the German's head. After a long minute, it screamed "RAVENCLAW!"

Students started cheering at the blue and bronze table. A pretty Asian girl with long black hair and a sad face scooted over so he could sit next to her.

"Bondevik, Lukas!" Norway stalked forward; students openly pointed at the nation's little ahoge floating independently above his ear.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Bonnefoy, Francis!" France winked flirtatiously over his shoulder at the whole of the Great Hall and sat gingerly on the old stool, almost flinching when the Hat touched his head. 'Please put me in Slytherin so I can annoy England and be in the same house as Prussia!'

"SLYTHERIN!"

"There goes another funny one." Fred said in annoyance. George shook his head sadly.

"Braginsky, Ivan!" The tall Russian, with his long creamy scarf wrapped around his neck, sat heavily on the stool. Was it just Prussia, or was there a creepy purple aura hovering around him?

"SLYTHERIN!" Belarus pushed aside a pug-faced girl and stared demandingly at Russia.

"Big brother~ sit here with me..." She purred. He gulped.

"Carriedo, Antonio Fernández!" Spain grinned excitedly and raced up to the stool with a wink at France and Prussia. After a moment, the hat exclaimed "HUFFLEPUFF!" The yellow and black table cheered as the cheerful boy sat down.

"Chernenko, Irunya!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Edelstein, Roderich!" Austria stood and sat delicately on the stool. Prussia crossed his fingers with a sly grin on his face.

"SLYTHERIN!" Prussia smirked evilly. Fred, noticing this, pointed it out to George, who grew hopeful again at the slim chance of still recruiting the newly-made Slytherin.

"Galante, Raivis!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Latvia scrambled off the stool and sat hurriedly next to Ukraine at the Hufflepuff table.

"Héderváry, Elizaveta!" Prussia wolf-whistled and Hungary scowled at him. After a minute, the hat placed her in Ravenclaw and she sat happily in between Germany and Norway.

"Honda, Kiku!"

"RAVENCLAW!" Japan sat next to Germany and watched quietly as America was called.

"Jones, Alfred!"

"The hero!" America grinned, shoving the hat onto his head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" It screamed immediately.

"Yeah!" America cheered.

"Karpusi, Heracles!" Greece snapped awake and stumbled onto the stool.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" He sat down next to Latvia and promptly fell asleep again.

"Kirkland, Allistor!" Scotland impatiently shook his gingery hair out of his pale green eyes.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Kirkland, Arthur!" England, now completely sober, sat primly and waited for a couple seconds. His burning emerald eyes were fixed upward, locked onto the Hat.

"SLYTHERIN!" England smiled slightly, ignoring the crestfallen look on America's face, and sat next to Austria at the Slytherin table, glaring at his elder brother.

"Kirkland, Peter!"

"Jeez, how many are there?" Ron muttered at the Gryffindor table.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Sealand joined his friend Latvia at the yellow and black table.

"Kohler, Mathias!" Denmark, also sober, was called.

"GRYFFINDOR!" He jumped up again and sat next to America.

"Laurinaitis, Toris!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Laurine, Bella!" (A/N: Belgium. I haven't found an official name for her yet)

"RAVENCLAW!" Hungary beamed and seized Belgium's hand to pull her down next to her. (A/N: I've always pictured the two of them as best friends. I don't know why)

"Łukasiewicz, Feliks!" Poland skipped forward. Lithuania facepalmed.

"Feliks, why are you wearing the girls uniform?" He cried. Poland simply smiled.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Machado, Carlos!" Cuba cracked his knuckles and stepped forward.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Oxenstierna, Berwald!" McGonagall stumbled over Swedan's name.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Popescu, Vladimir!" Romania, his shaggy strawberry blonde hair hanging like silky curtains around his pale face, blinked red eyes and walked forward. One of his fangs was curled over his lip.

"He's a vampire!" Someone hissed. A couple of the younger years squeaked in fear, but the older students grinned and leaned forward for a closer look.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Yes!" Bulgaria cheered. He jumped up and man-hugged his best friend and they sat next to each other.

"Soo, Im-Yong!" South Korea, who for once wasn't being perverted or loud, smiled eagerly.

"GRYFFINDOR!" America cheered loudly and the two friends sat together.

"Steilsson, Emil!"

"RAVENCLAW!" Iceland sat next to Norway.

"Väinämöinen, Tino!" Poor Professor McGonagall's tongue was getting mangled by all these foreign names.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Vargas, Feliciano!" Italy, humming the Sorting Hat's song loudly, skipped forward just like Poland.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" He now joined Finland, still humming.

"Vargas, Lovino!" Romano, who was nomming a tomato, shuffled forward.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Von Bock, Eduard!"

"RAVENCLAW!" Estonia joined his fellow Baltic State at the Ravenclaw table.

"Wang, Yao!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Williams, Matthew!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" America cheered supportively as his brother joined the large group of nations at the badger-embossed table.

"Zwingli, Lilli!" Switzerland tensed considerably when Liechtenstein walked alone to the stool, his fists clenching as he leaned forward slightly.

"RAVENCLAW!" And then he relaxed as she sat next to Hungary and Belgium.

"Zwingli, Vash!" Switzerland stalked forward, lost in his dignity.

"Good luck, big bruder!" Liechtenstein called after him.

"SLYTHERIN!" Austria shuddered internally as he saw that the only empty seat was next to him. Switzerland would have no choice but to sit there. A the Ravenclaw table, Hungary saw this and grinned. It didn't take another Ravenclaw to guess that yaoi was running through her head. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"If you'd kindly not look at me, I'd be grateful." Switzerland growled. Austria looked away bitterly. As the headmaster clapped his hands and food appeared on the golden platters, France and America screamed in terror.

"I-is this British food?" France squeaked. England scowled

"Yes." said a fourth year Ravenclaw.

"Nobody touch a thing unless you want to die!" America yelled, standing up on the bench and holding out his hands. "British food is deadly!"

"What makes you say that?" asked a rather offended McGonagall.

"We've tasted Arthur's cooking."

"I ate dinner with him and fell into a coma!" Prussia said.

"We all thought he was dead and wrote farewell letters on his Facebook wall." Hungary nodded solemnly. (A/N: True story. Google it.)

"I assure you, this food is perfectly safe and edible." Dumbledore smiled. A couple braver countries warily took a bite, and the others looked on anxiously. At the Gryffindor table, Hermione rolled her eyes and resumed eating. America bit his lip as England gathered a forkful, swiveled around in his seat to stare balefully at him and the others, chewed, and swallowed. America held his breath and watched. England continued breathing, as did the others who'd eaten.

"Not bad for British food!" France said in surprise. "Though of course, my French cuisine is much superior." Dumbledore smiled slightly.

"I will ask the house elves to make food from your respective countries from now on, if you would prefer."

"HAMBURGERS!" America roared. England sniffed disdainfully and turned away back to his plate. At once, Draco Malfoy and co. absorbed him into a conversation.

After the feast, the countries were led to their common rooms by the prefects of their houses. England himself was feeling rather sleepy, so tired, in fact, that he barely protested when France groped him; he simply pushed him roughly down the stairs. Ahead of him, Prussia was talking to Draco Malfoy, the smarmy blonde kid, about awesomeness and its perks.

"You wouldn't understand, puny boy. Awesomeness is not something you achieve, it is something you are born with! Frankly, you are lacking." Gilbird, who'd been sitting on the albino's shoulder all during the feast, chirped in agreement. The conversation ended there.

"Mon petit, surely you are not a Briton? Your looks and poise give you a French quality," France purred to a pretty third year. She gave him a look of great offense and hurried away.

The common room turned out to be a long and low room lit by ghostly green lamps and tied together with dark mahogany furniture. Sleek green armchairs were grouped around a sinisterly flickering fireplace and a matching fireplace across the room had a love-seat positioned in front of it. In a corner, three sofas were arranged in a square shape with one side open. The walls were painted black and the floor was laminated with dark wood. A single but large window revealed that they were under the lake; a school of fish darted by, a much larger fish in pursuit. The giant squid was a black mass in the distance.

"Seems comfortable enough, non?" France asked uncertainly.

"I love it! It's great, da?" Russia smiled. Belarus creeped up behind her brother and pounced on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and causing him to jump a foot into the air.

"I found you~ Now brother, marrymemarrymemarrymemarrymemarryme!" She chanted. Others stared wide-eyed at her and moved away.

"Help me!" Russia wailed. When nobody did, he sank to his knees on the floor. "Goawaygoawaygoawaygoaway!"

"Marry me, big brother, and I'll do as you say~" Belarus crooned.

Across the room, Romano was slouched miserably on one of the sofas. He watched Romania and Bulgaria as they chatted happily, but his thoughts were on something else- or rather, someone else. He missed him. Spain. He missed Spain. It had hardly been an hour, and he hated himself for it, but he missed him terribly. It was the first time since he was a little kid that he had been without him.

He wasn't left pining for long. The hidden door slid open, and Spain bounced in."My little Lovi, where are you?" he sang. Romano buried his face into a pillow to hide his smile. Spain had come to see him.

And as the two old friends chatted, Romano decided- maybe this place wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

Kind of a sappy ending there, but it's Spamano :3 I went back and edited the first chapter and next is the story guide!


	3. Story Guide

Exceeding Expectations- Guide

America- Gryffindor (Alfred F. Jones)

England- Slytherin (Arthur Kirkland)

China- Ravenclaw (Yao Wang)

Russia- Slytherin (Ivan Braginsky)

France- Slytherin (Francis Bonnefoy)

Canada- Hufflepuff (Matthew Williams)

Germany- Ravenclaw (Ludwig Beilschmidt)

Italy- Hufflepuff (Feliciano Vargas)

Japan- Ravenclaw (Kiku Honda)

Prussia- Slytherin (Gilbert Beilschmidt)

Hungary- Ravenclaw (Elizaveta Héderváry)

Austria- Slytherin (Roderich Edelstein)

Denmark- Gryffindor (Mathias Kohler)

Norway- Ravenclaw (Lukas Bondevik)

Iceland- Ravenclaw (Emil Steilsson)

Finland- Hufflepuff (Tino Väinämöinen)

Sweden- Gryffindor (Berwald Oxenstierna)

Spain- Hufflepuff (Antonio Fernández Carriedo)

Romano- Slytherin (Lovino Vargas)

Belgium- Ravenclaw (Bella Laurine)

South Korea- Gryffindor (Im-Yong Soo)

Romania- Slytherin (Vladimir Popescu)

Bulgaria- Slytherin (Aleksander Balakov)

Belarus- Slytherin (Natalia Arlovskaya)

Ukraine- Hufflepuff (Irunya Chernenko)

Latvia- Hufflepuff (Raivis Galante)

Lithuania- Ravenclaw (Toris Laurinaitis)

Estonia- Ravenclaw (Eduard von Bock)

Poland- Hufflepuff (Feliks Łukasiewicz)

Switzerland- Slytherin (Vash Zwingli)

Liechtenstein- Ravenclaw (Lilli Zwingli)

Greece- Hufflepuff (Heracles Karpusi)

Turkey- Slytherin (Sadık Adnan)

Cuba- Gryffindor (Carlos Machado)

Scotland- Slytherin (Allistor Kirkland)

Sealand- Hufflepuff (Peter Kirkland)

Ships:

PruHun

GerIta

DenNor

UsUk

SpaMano

RoChu

SwissAus

LietPol

Greece/Japan/Turkey (In which Greece & Turkey fight over Japan :3)

If You Squint:

FrUk (one-sided feelings and furious England)

PruAus (mainly spat moments, some one-sided feelings)

AusHun (mentions of their past relationships and leftover feelings)

PruCan (mostly friendly moments and extreme sexual tentions)

Franada (father/son moments)

AsaKiku (one-sided feelings)

If You Stab Your Eyes Out With A Sharp Fork:

GerMano (completely spat moments that somebody makes awkward)


End file.
